SOUTH  END 

FACTORY  OPERATIVES 

Employment  and  Residence 


BY 


ROSWELL  F.  PHELPS,  A.  M. 

Late  holder  of  the  South  End  *House  Fellowship 
AT  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


Published  by  the 

SOUTH  END  HOUSE  ASSOCIATION 
20  Union  Park,  Boston 
..  J903  v. 


SOUTH  END 

FACTORY  OPERATIVES 

Employment  and  Residence 


BY 


At- 

\ 

ROSWELL  f/pHELPS,  A.  M. 

Late  holder  of  the  South  End  House  Fellowship 
AT  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


Published  by  the 

SOUTH  END  HOUSE  ASSOCIATION 
20  Union  Park,  Boston 
..  1903  • 


NOTE 


The  South  End  House  Fellowship  at  Harvard  University 
is  maintained  by  certain  Graduates  of  the  University  living  in 
Eoston.  The  incumbent  is  appointed  by  the  Faculty  in  consul¬ 
tation  with  the  Head  of  the  South  End  House ,  and  is  in  resi¬ 
dence  during  the  year  at  the  Settlement  House.  He  may  be 
reappointed,  for  a  second  year.  The  investigation ,  whose  results 
are  in  part  herewith  presented ,  was  continued  through  a  period 
of  two  years. 


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OUTLINE 


Introduction.  —  Methods  of  Conducting  the  Investigation. 

SECTION  I. 

The  Industrial  Development  of  the  South  End — Plate  I. 

A.  Historical. 

B.  General  Tendencies. 

SECTION  II. 

Present  Industrial  Conditions  in  the  Factories  of  the  South  End. 
The  various  industries  examined  and  compared. 

SECTION  III. 

The  Housing  of  the  South  End  Factory  Operatives  —  Plate  II. 

A.  Residential  Distribution,  by  Districts. 

(a)  Electric  street  railroads,  (b)  Steam  cars. 

B.  Residential  Distribution,  by  Wards  and  Precincts. 

C.  Ownership  of  Homes,  by  Circular  Areas. — Plate  III. 

(a)  Location,  (b)  Valuation,  (c)  Family  unity, 
(d)  Ages  of  the  owners. 

SECTION  IV. 

Determining  Factors  in  the  Choice  of  Homes  by  Factory  Operatives. 

A.  Home  Renting  versus  Home  Buying. 

B.  Urban  versus  Suburban  Location. 

(a)  Influence  of  transportation  on  location. 

(b)  Influence  of  land  values  on  location  and  on  rents 

of  dwellings. 

C.  Methods  of  Relieving  Congested  Centres. 

Conclusion. 


PLATES 


i 


PAGE 

Plate  I.  Outline  map  of  Boston ,  showing  the  location  of 

the  South  End  Factory  District  ...  7 

Plate  II.  Residential  Distribution  of  South  End  Fac¬ 
tory  Operatives ,  by  concentric  circles  .  .  15 


Plate  III.  Distribution  of  Homes  owned  by  South  End 

Factory  Operatives ,  by  concentric  circles  .  23 


Note. — Plate  I.  was  prepared  to  serve  as  an  outline  basis  for 
Plates  II.  and  III.,  which  are  to  be  considered  as  superposed  upon  it 
in  order  that  the  full  significance  of  locations  upon  them  may  be 
clearly  brought  out.  By  this  method  is  avoided  that  confusion  to  the 
eye  which  would  necessarily  result  from  having  too  many  outlines 
upon  a  single  plate. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


The  results  of  the  present  investigation  are  not  assumed  to  be 
exhaustive.  The  work  has  been  entirely  the  result  of  effort  on  the 
part  of  one  person,  and,  in  comparison  with  results  of  statistical 
investigation  conducted  under  the  official  authority  of  a  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics,  it  may  seem  somewhat  fragmentary.  The  very 
narrowness  of  the  field  which  it  covers  might  also  lead  one  to  under¬ 
estimate  its  value.  It  is  this  very  point,  however,  which  is  urged  in 
its  favor.  The  elaborate  statistical  inquiries  of  our  Labor  Bureaus 
cover  immense  fields,  but  that  very  immensity  renders  the  informa¬ 
tion  obtained  general  and  stereotyped.  A  single  individual,  working 
unofficially,  is  able  to  obtain  through  close  observation  and  personal 
conferences  much  valuable  information  which  bureau  agents  are 
unable  to  discover  and  which,  in  any  case,  could  not  be  set  forth  by 
their  method  of  tabular  representation. 

In  certain  cases  the  presentation  of  a  general  letter  of  introduction 
from  Mr.  H.  G.  Wadlin,  late  chief  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics,  served  to  offset  the  difficulty  in  meeting  those  men 
of  affairs  from  whom  valuable  information  might  be  obtained,  but 
who  were  averse  to  spending  their  time  in  satisfying  the  mere  curi¬ 
osity  of  a  private  individual.  In  most  cases,  however,  this  letter 
was  not  presented,  for  its  official  nature  too  effectually  checked  the 
freedom  of  intercourse  which  was  desired.  Much  more  of  a  statisti¬ 
cal  nature  might,  with  it,  have  been  secured,  but  that  which  is  pre¬ 
sented  is  the  more  reliable  because  it  has  been  volunteered  in  response 
to  a  request  rather  than  submitted  in  compliance  with  an  authorized 
demand.  Additional  value  may  be  attributed  to  the  amount  and 
nature  of  the  statistical  evidence  secured,  on  account  of  the  very 
voluntary  and  personal  way  in  which  it  was  offered.  With  these 
remarks  in  mind,  much  of  that  which  follows  and  which  might  be 
considered  trivial  and  narrow  in  application  will  be  found  of  con¬ 
siderable  significance  because  of  the  methods  employed  in  its 


preparation.  To  a  great  extent,  therefore,  the  statements  made  here 
are  the  results  of  impressions  formed  through  examination  of  statisti¬ 
cal  evidence  personally  obtained,  through  supplementation  and  veri¬ 
fication  of  such  evidence,  and  through  talks  with  persons  who  on 
account  of  business  interests  are  well  informed  as  to  the  special  topics 
here  considered. 

Mechanical  aids  in  the  form  of  charts  with  references,  specially 
prepared  street  and  factory  directories  for  this  district  as  distinct 
from  the  city  at  large,  and  tabular  representations  for  comparison, 
have  been  of  great  value  in  the  saving  of  time,  in  the  discovery  of 
certain  important  relationships  between  the  various  factors  in  the 
problem,  and  in  the  representation  of  the  more  important  principles. 
Of  these  mechanical  aids,  three  plates  to  which  reference  will  be 
made  later  accompany  these  pages,  and  a  few  tables  of  statistics,  per¬ 
sonally  obtained,  are  inserted  and  commented  upon  at  their  appro¬ 
priate  places  in  the  text. 


6 


SECTION  I.  THE  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
THE  SOUTH  END  (PLATE  I.). 


An  outline  of  the  historical  growth  of  the  South  End  as  an 
industrial  community  will  aid  us  in  understanding  the  present  indus¬ 
trial  conditions  here.  In  1800  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the  district 
now  called  the  South  End  was  in  existence,  and  that  portion  was  a 
narrow  neck  of  land  connecting  Roxbury  with  the  present  business 
section  of  Boston.  The  South  End  in  its  present  extent  was  not  com¬ 
pleted  until  about  i860,  and  even  then  certain  small  checker-board 
plots  between  intersecting  streets  were  left  to  be  filled  in  at  the 
convenience  of  the  owners.  In  the  Back  Bay  a  mill-dam  was  finished 
in  1821,  and  mills  were  erected  to  make  use  of  the  water  power, 
but  in  1849  the  city  “  declared  the  condition  of  the  Back  Bay  a 
public  nuisance,”  and,  after  much  conflict  between  the  mill  owners 
and  the  committee  which  had  been  appointed  to  look  out  for  the 
city’s  interest,  the  basins  on  that  side  were  filled,  and  much  valuable 
land  was  added  to  the  area  of  the  city.  Previous  to  1849,  however, 
the  South  Bay  had  been  rapidly  filled  in,  and  the  South  End  was 
in  extent  then  almost  as  at  present.  Coal,  lumber,  and  stone  yards 
were  already  being  established  along  the  shore  of  the  South  Bay,  and 
these  have  continued  to  follow  the  water-line  as  it  receded  further 
from  the  original  land.  The  brick  and  lumber  yards,  which  had  been 
situated  in  the  region  of  Dover  Street  previously  to  1850,  and  which 
had  furnished  employment  to  a  large  number  of  workmen  in  that 
then  sparsely  populated  district,  went  out  of  business  about  that  time. 
The  natural  introduction  of  wood-working  by  steam  power  led  to 
the  establishment  of  such  workshops  in  this  district,  and  this  was 
encouraged  by  the  nearness  of  coal  and  lumber  supplies  brought  so 
conveniently  by  water. 


The  mills  in  the  Back  Bay  region,  on  account  of  the  filling  in 
there  under  public  authority  in  1852,  either  went  out  of  existence  or 
moved  to  other  parts  of  the  city.  The  cheapness  of  made  land  in 
the  South  End,  where  steam  power  was  being  used,  encouraged  a 
removal  of  factories  eastward  as  new  land  was  continually  added, 
and,  though  the  filling  in  of  land  on  this  side  almost  ceased  in  i860, 
this  eastward  movement  continues  even  now.  At  present  we  find 
that  the  only  factories  in  this  section  which  now  stand  entirely  upon 
original  land  are  two  piano  factories.  One  of  these  has  but  recently 
supplanted  an  older  concern  which  had  already  been  crowded  out 
of  the  front  portion  of  the  street  floor  to  make  room  for  three  stores 
which  were  pioneers  of  the  advance  of  the  mercantile  section  of  the 
city  up  Washington  Street  out  Roxbury  way.  A  directory  of  1861 
gives  eight  piano  companies  which  were  then  situated  on  the  original 
land  of  “  the  Neck.”  Two  of  these  have  moved  upon  the  made 
land  eastward,  two  only  have  remained  on  original  land  (one  of 
which  has  recently  moved  further  from  the  down-town  business  sec¬ 
tion  where  formerly  it  combined  show  rooms  with  factory) ,  two  have 
moved  out  of  the  district,  and  two  are  no  longer  in  existence.  The 
piano  factories  are  as  a  class  the  largest  factories  in  the  district  at 
present,  but  an  examination  of  other  industries  represented  here 
shows  a  like  change  of  locations  of  plants  from  the  original  land  to 
the  made  land  eastward.  The  movement  upon  new  land  has  been 
eastward  rather  than  westward  because  the  South  Bay  land  in  the 
east  was  already  made  and  a  considerable  industrial  community 
(using  steam  power)  was  established  there  before  the  making  of 
the  new  Back  Bay  land  was  fairly  begun.  Furthermore,  the  South 
Bay,  on  account  of  fewer  bridges  across  its  outlet  (Fort  Point  Chan¬ 
nel)  and  a  better  channel,  was  more  easily  accessible  by  boat  during 
the  early  growth  of  the  manufacturing  industry  of  the  city  than  was 
the  Back  Bay,  with  its  shallow  and  obstructed  outlet,  the  Charles 
River.  These  advantages,  together  with  the  earlier  expansion  of  the 
South  End,  determined  the  direction  in  which  the  manufacturing  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  city  should  grow. 

There  has  been  a  rapid  growth  of  the  South  End  both  industrially 
and  in  population  since  i860.  But,  while  numerical  population  has 
increased,  the  social  character  and  make-up  of  its  population  has 
greatly  changed.  Until  1870  this  was  still  a  distinctly  residential 
district,  with  its  “  swell-front  ”  brick  houses,  many  of  which  are  still 


8 


standing,  but  which  now  shelter  a  very  different  class  of  occupants. 
At  that  time  the  rapid  industrial  growth  of  this  section,  together 
with  the  advance  of  the  mercantile  section  of  the  city  southward,  led 
to  a  rapid  exodus  of  the  more  prosperous  to  the  still  newer  and  more 
residential  section  of  the  city,  —  the  Back  Bay  District,  —  which  after 
1852  was  being  rapidly  filled  in.  The  fine  old  brick  houses  in  this 
vicinity  were  thus  left  for  the  housing  of  the  working  people  who 
were  settling  here  in  the  midst  of  the  growing  industrial  region. 
Others  who  worked  in  the  mercantile  establishments  further  down¬ 
town  found,  in  these  vacated  houses,  homes  conveniently  near  their 
work.  Thus  has  the  character  of  the  district  changed.  Immigration 
into  this  district  from  other  parts  of  the  city  and  from  foreign 
lands,  especially  Ireland,  has  resulted  in  changing  the  South  End 
from  a  residential  section  of  prosperous  Americans,  which  it  was  in 
1870,  to  a  manufacturing  district  having  in  1895  a  native  population 
of  only  30  per  cent,  and  a  foreign  population  of  70  per  cent.  The 
struggle  for  predominance  has  been  between  the  industrial  and  the 
residential  interests  centered  here,  with  a  decided  victory  for  the 
former.  The  mercantile  influences  on  the  north  have  as  yet  been  of 
small  but  of  always  increasing  importance  in  the  struggle.  As  the 
factories  in  this  district  are  for  the  most  part  wood-working,  the 
mercantile  approach  has  been  less  resisted  because  these  factories  have 
been  invited  in  a  southeasterly  direction  by  cheaper  ground  rents  and 
by  the  greater  economy  resulting  from  nearness  to  the  supplies  of 
lumber  and  coal  brought  by  vessels  almost  to  their  back  doors. 
Several  of  these  factories  have  their  own  docks,  with  coal  and  lumber 
yards  on  the  water’s  edge  or  very  conveniently  near.  Several  steam 
stone  yards  also  find  in  this  section  a  very  convenient  location,  for 
rough  stone  is  brought  directly  to  them  by  vessel  and  is  stored  cheaply 
at  the  docks. 

This  district  has  thus  been  the  scene  of  two  kinds  of  struggle : 
that  between  the  forces  of  population  and  that  between  the  various 
industrial  and  non-industrial  forces.  The  foreign  population  has 
won  a  decided  victory  over  the  native.  The  industrial  forces  won 
for  a  time  an  almost  complete  victory  over  the  residential,  aided  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  contest  by  the  mercantile  forces,  but  these, 
the  mercantile,  have  turned  upon  the  short-while  victor  and  bid  fair 
soon  to  drive  factories  and  factory  employees  entirely  from  the 
field.  These  encroachments  of  the  mercantile  section  on  the  north, 


9 


together  with  that  great  transforming  agency,  —  transportation,  — 
will  undoubtedly  give  to  the  South  End  an  entirely  new  character. 
This  district,  which  now  affords  locations  mainly  for  factories  and 
tenement-houses,  will  soon  become  merely  an  extension  of  the 
down-town  business  section  to  the  exclusion  of  many  of  its  larger 
factories  and  to  the  expulsion  of  a  portion  of  its  present  industrial 
population  into  the  suburbs.  Marked  evidences  of  this  change  already 
appear,  and  the  movement,  with  each  new  advance  in  land  values  and 
in  transportation  facilities,  gathers  strong  momentum. 

With  a  knowledge  of  these  historical  facts  and  general  tendencies, 
and  suggestions  of  probable  changes  in  the  future,  the  problem  of 
housing  the  factory  operatives  of  the  South  End  gains  new  interest 
and  presents  decidedly  different  aspects. 


SECTION  II.  PRESENT  INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  IN 
THE  FACTORIES  OF  THE  SOUTH  END. 

The  gathering  of  statistics  by  a  single  individual  is  not  apt  to  be 
a  comprehensive  or,  of  itself  alone,  a  very  satisfactory  means  of 
investigating  a  subject  of  even  such  narrow  limits  as  this  upon 
which  we  are  engaged.  It  has  been  found  advisable,  however,  to 
use  the  statistical  method  even  here,  but  rather  as  a  means  of  sug¬ 
gesting  and  supplementing  the  impressions  gained,  than  to  serve  of 
itself  as  a  proof  of  various  hypotheses.  As  suggestive  rather  than 
as  convincing  the  statistics  secured  have  been  of  special  service  in 
this  instance. 

Our  attention  is  directed  first  of  all  to  the  conditions  of  employ¬ 
ment  of  that  particular  class  of  working  men  and  women  —  the 
South  End  factory  operatives  —  whose  housing  we  shall  later 
investigate.  The  two  sources  of  information  which  suggest  them¬ 
selves  —  the  employer  and  the  employees  —  are  examined  in  order. 

Throughout  we  use  the  term  “  factory  ”  as  including  the  larger 
workshops,  it  being  understood  that  only  those  establishments  are 
considered  in  which  there  is  the  association  of  laborers  for  the  use 
of  central  machine-power  and  for  economy  in  production.  Ordi¬ 
narily,  establishments  in  which  there  are  less  than  five  persons 
employed  are  not  considered.  The  term  “  operatives  ”  includes. 


io 


wage-earners  only;  officers,  clerks,  or  other  salaried  persons  are 
not  considered. 

As  a  groundwork  for  this  investigation  a  complete  factory 
directory  of  the  district  was  made  by  streets,  and  contained  the 
firm  or  corporation  name,  the  street  and  number,  the  nature  of  the 
industry,  and  —  in  cases  where  the  factory  did  not  occupy  the  whole 
building  —  the  number  of  the  floor  or  floors  on  which  it  was  located. 
The  advantages  of  such  a  directory  are  obvious. 

A  reclassification  of  these  factories  under  the  various  industries 
showed  a  total  of  118,  distributed  as  follows:  — 

TABLE  i*. 


Pianos  and  Church  Organs  .  .  .  1 1 

Wood-working,  Carpentering  and  Building  44 
Metal  Working  (16) 

Brass,  Copper  and  Galvanized  Iron  .  6 

Machinery  Mfg.  ....  5 

Others  (Small  Shops)  ...  5 

Laundries  ......*  9 

Wagon  and  Carriage  Repair  Shops  .  .  5 

Stone  Works  ......  4 

Unclassified  ......  29 


Total  .  .  .  .  .  .118 


*The  area  on  which  these  factories  are  located  is  represented  on  Plate  i. 


The  above  classification  has  been  arranged  in  the  order  of 
importance  of  each  as  an  industrial  factor  in  the  community,  and 
this  order  represents  fairly  accurately  the  importance  as  regards  the 
total  number  employed  in  each  industry.  The  order  as  to  rates  of 
wages  would  be  considerably  changed.  Piano  and  church-organ 
manufacturing  would  still  hold  first  place,  but  the  laundry  industry 
would  drop  to  the  very  last  place  in  the  list.  The  reason  for  this 
will  be  explained  later. 

The  Piano  Industry ,  heading  the  list,  is  the  most  flourishing  one 
in  the  district.  In  but  few  instances  are  the  wages  paid  less  than 
$10.00  a  week.  In  several  instances  some  girls  are  employed  in 
certain  of  the  lighter  tasks  of  “  setting  up,”  but  even  here  some 


11 


skill  is  required,  and  the  wages  paid  the  girls  are  better  than  those 
paid  in  the  laundries.  A  majority  of  the  workmen  receive  from  two 
to  three  dollars  a  day  and  the  more  skilful  polishers,  regulators,  and 
tuners,  being  generally  paid  by  the  piece,  receive  as  high  as  thirty 
dollars  a  week  during  a  fair  season.  The  operatives  in  the  piano 
and  church-organ  factories  seem  to  be  the  best  paid,  most  skilful 
and  enterprising  of  all  the  factory  employees  in  the  district.  As  to 
rates  of  wages  and  character  of  employees  in  these  various  indus¬ 
tries  it  is  rather  hard  to  make  any  comparisons,  for  in  the  same 
industry  there  are  usually  several  different  grades  of  labor,  and  the 
comparison  of  averages  is  neither  safe  nor  fruitful.  The  require¬ 
ments  of  special  skill  in  the  case  of  operatives  in  piano  factories  and 
the  special  competition  of  Chinese  labor  in  the  laundry  business  give 
sufficient  foundation  for  placing  the  one  first  and  the  other  last 
in  the  list  of  factory  industries  given  above,  where  rates  of  wages 
and  freedom  of  industrial  conditions  alone  are  under  consideration. 

Second  in  order  might  come  the  Wood-working ,  Carpentering, 
and  Building  Industries,  but  these  as  a  rule  employ  such  a  small 
number  of  workmen  (seldom  more  than  four  or  five,  and  these  often 
employed  in  “  outside  work  ”)  that,  although  there  are  forty-four 
shops  represented,  it  seems  hardly  worth  while  considering  them  as 
a  class  of  themselves.  The  output  of  these  shops  is,  however,  con¬ 
siderable.  They  are  located  a  number  of  them  in  one  building,  “  in 
rooms  with  power,”  each  room  being  supplied  with  power  from  a 
central  plant.  The  hand  carving  and  other  wood-working,  much 
of  which  formerly  vras  done  by  hand,  is  now  done  by  small  groups 
of  workmen  using  specialized  machinery  run  by  power  from  a 
large  plant. 

The  Metal-working  Industry  includes  two  large  shops,  but  these 
do  not  employ  as  many  workmen  as  their  size  might  indicate.  The 
other  metal-working  shops  occupy  as  a  rule  but  one  or  two  rooms 
each  and  employ  but  few  workmen.  Machine  power  is  used,  but, 
as  in  the  case  of  manufacturing  incandescent  lamp  globes,  gas 
fixtures,  and  other  small  metal  appliances,  there  is  much  hand  work 
done.  Considerable  skill  is  required,  and  the  wages  are  compara¬ 
tively  good. 

A  fairly  well  paid  class  of  workmen  is  employed  in  the  Stone 
Works.  They  receive  $2.50  a  day  and  often  more,  but  an  appren¬ 
ticeship  is  necessary  before  the  better  wages  are  received.  The  hand 


12 


workers  are  specially  well  paid,  for  such  work  requires  a  peculiar 
mechanical  knack  in  handling  the  tools.  The  use  of  steam  for 
sawing,  cutting,  and  polishing  the  stone  is  reducing  the  mere 
mechanical  labor  to  a  minimum.  For  the  higher  grades  of  skilled 
hand  cutting,  wages  as  high  as  $5.00  a  day  are  paid. 

The  Wagon  and  Carriage  Repair  Shops,  employing  a  total  of 
less  than  forty  workmen,  need  no  special  mention. 

The  low  rate  of  wages  paid  in  the  Laundries  (often  as  low  as 
$3.50  a  week)  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  women  and 
girls  are  employed.  Their  labor  is,  of  course,  “  subsidized,”  in  the 
sense  that  they  are  partly  supported  at  home  by  parents,  or  by  other 
members  of  the  family.  Mr.  Mitchell  Wing,  in  an  address  delivered 
before  the  New  England  Laundry  Men’s  Association,  lamented  the 
great  immigration  of  Chinamen  into  our  cities,  and  affirmed  that 
Chinese  competition  has  made  the  laundry  business  much  less 
profitable  than  in  former  years.  So  intense  has  been  the  unequal 
competition  that  an  attempt  has  been  made  by  the  Association  to 
regulate  by  law  the  conditions  of  Chinese  labor  and  to  bring  it  upon 
a  more  equal  basis  with  American  labor.  The  Chinaman  subsidizes 
himself  through  the  great  economy  which  is  made  possible  by  his 
extreme  isolation  from  American  society.  Laboring,  eating,  and 
sleeping  in  one  or  two  small  basement  rooms,  he  is  able,  through 
freedom  from  the  restraints  of  ordinary  workshop  regulations,  to 
carry  on  a  kind  of  competition  destructive  of  righteous  profits  in 
this  important  industry,  which  outside  of  his  shop  is  regulated  by 
civil  and  sanitary  law. 

Of  the  other  twenty-nine  unclassified  workshops  in  the  list, 
none  are  of  special  importance  for  our  purpose.  Included  among 
them  is  a  variety  of  small  establishments.  There  are  several  candy 
“  factories,”  two  blacking  factories,  several  establishments  for  knit¬ 
ting  underwear  and  hosiery,  one  for  the  making  of  aprons  and 
linen  suits,  one  for  the  manufacture  of  leather  and  duck  garments,  a 
patent-leather  repair  shop  and  others.  The  total  number  of 
employees  in  all  of  these  unclassified  factories  taken  together  would 
probably  not  exceed  six  hundred. 

A  general  summary  of  the  industrial  conditions  of  the  South  End 
Factories  taken  in  classes  might  be  made  in  tabular  form  as 
follows :  — 


13 


TABLE  No.  2. 


-Comparative  Rank 

AS 

3 

] 

2 

2 

2 

(A 

fd 

< 

3? 
g  o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

p 

rt 

p. 

H* 

Industry. 

S' ft 

n  P 

s2 

C 

*o 

n 

m 

3 

"H. 

o 

fa 

& 

n 

o 

p 

crq 

n> 

o 

0 

c 

< 

Vj 

a 

a 

CD 

CL? 

a 

cn 

CD 

e 

Piano  and  Church  Organs  (a) 
Wookworking,  etc.  (b)  . 

Metal  Working  .... 

Laundries  (c) . 

Stone  Works . 

Wagon  and  Carriage  Repairs 
Unclassified . 


.  1 1 

686 

1 

1 

1 

1 

.  44 

298 

2 

2 

2 

2 

.  16 

120 

4 

3 

3 

3 

•  9 

260 

3 

5 

6 

5 

•  4 

40 

5 

4 

4 

4 

•  5 

35 

6 

6 

5 

6 

29 

5S0 

— 

— 

— 

— 

118 

2,019 

(a)  In  each  case  first  in  rank. 

(b)  In  each  case  second  in  rank. 

(c)  Low  wages  due  to  employment  of  women  and  to  Chinese 
competition. 


The  information  above  was  obtained  in  most  cases  from  the 
employers.  In  a  number  of  cases  permission  was  given  to  examine 
the  wage  lists,  but  more  often  there  was  considerable  hesitation 
in  giving  information  to  one  who  showed  no  official  credentials.  Oc¬ 
casionally  the  letter  of  introduction  from  Chief  Wadlin  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  was  presented.  The 
employers  showed  in  many  cases  a  thorough  interest  in  the  sub-  • 
ject  and  a  wide  acquaintance  with  their  employees.  Some  very 
interesting  information  not  in  direct  line  with  this  report  was  freely 
volunteered.  Often  the  acquaintance  of  employers  with  their  em¬ 
ployees,  especially  in  the  smaller  shops,  was  so  intimate  that  the 
employers  were  able  to  give  offhand  the  home  addresses  of  their 
workmen.  Unfortunately,  however,  in  most  of  the  larger  factories 
the  wage  lists  and  pay-rolls  alone  represented  the  mutual  interests 
between  employers  and  employed.  The  conclusions  at  which  we 
arrive  respecting  the  more  personal  life  of  the  two  thousand  oper¬ 
atives  in  these  118  factories  and  workshops  under  consideration 
must  therefore  depend  more  or  less  upon  the  approximate  statistical 
information  here  presented.  The  conclusions  are  not,  however,  on 


H 


PLATE  II.  — RESIDENTIAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  SOUTH  END  FACTORY  OPERATIVES 

To  be  con»idered  as  auperposed  on  PLATE  I. 


O  1 1 0  IT  U  S I H T3 1 <3  vIAITttaaiaaH-.il  HTAJq 

.1  aTAxTH  (<*■  ^eoqTSq  Vi  'et%  &in*i W*? noo  *>•.;  r-T 


that  account  to  be  mistrusted,  for  the  figures  obtained  are  sufficiently 
large  to  justify  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  them  and  to  allow 
for  a  considerable  degree  of  approximation  in  the  mere  enumeration 
of  cases. 

SECTION  III.  THE  HOUSING  OF  THE  SOUTH  END 
FACTORY  OPERATIVES. 

A.  RESIDENTIAL  DISTRIBUTION  BY  DISTRICTS  (PLATE  II.). 

The  main  aim  in  obtaining  statistical  information  was  to  deter¬ 
mine  what  proportion  of  these  2,000  operatives  working  in  the  South 
End  live  in  this  district  in  which  they  work,  and  further  to  determine 
what  is  the  proportionate  representation  here  of  workmen  who  reside 
in  other  portions  of  the  city  or  in  its  suburbs. 

Information  was  obtained  as  to  the  residences  of  1,102  out  of 
the  approximate  total  of  2,000.  For  the  remainder  it  was  impossible 
to  obtain  any  information  whatever,  through  lack  of  address  lists, 
and  the  employers  were  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  obtain  the 
information  desired.  But  the  1,102  addresses  are  quite  accurate,  and 
the  list  includes  a  very  fair  representation  of  each  of  the  more 
important  industries  in  the  district,  i.  e.  each  industry  is  represented 
fairly  in  proportion  to  the  total  number  of  workmen  engaged  in  it, 
irrespective  of  the  size  of  the  shops. 

The  proportionate  representation  of  each  of  the  nine  principal 
districts  of  Boston  is  given  in  Table  3. 


TABLE  3. 


District. 

Distance  from 

Factory  District. 

Number  of 
Persons. 

Proportion  of  total 
1,102  considered. 

Boston  (proper) 

Within 

i  mile 

•  369 

33-5% 

Roxbury 

4 4 

2  miles  . 

.  23O 

20.8 

South  Boston  . 

4  4 

n  6  6 

.  1 26 

1 1.4 

Dorchester . 

4  4 

5  “  • 

79 

7.2 

Jamaica  Plain 

4  4 

4  “  • 

41 

3-7 

Cambridge 

44 

4  “ 

.  26 

2.4 

Cambridgeport 

44 

3  “  • 

26 

2.4 

Somerville  . 

4  4 

3  “  • 

•  25 

2*3 

East  Boston 

44 

n  44 

3 

.  22 

2.0 

85.7% 

Unclassified  and  unknown .  14.3 


100.0% 


15 


From  this  table  we  see  that  out  of  the  total  number  over  85 
per  cent,  live  in  the  nine  districts  above,  and  about  15  per  cent, 
are  distributed  elsewhere.  Of  the  total  number, — 

33.5  per  cent,  live  in  one  district  —  Boston  (proper),  i.  e.  on  the 
peninsula. 

54.3  per  cent,  live  in  two  districts  —  Boston  (proper)  and  Rox- 
bury. 

65.7  per  cent,  live  in  three  districts  —  Boston  (proper),  Roxbury, 
and  South  Boston. 

For  the  remaining  36.3  per  cent.,  the  distance  from  home  to 
factory  is  so  great  as  to  make  it  probable  that  the  operatives  use 
some  means  of  daily  transportation  back  and  forth.  Those  living 
in  Boston  (proper)  would  not  be  under  such  necessity,  except  those 
who  dwell  in  the  extreme  limits  of  the  North  and  West  Ends  —  a 
very  few.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  a  considerable  number  of 
those  living  in  the  remoter  parts  of  Roxbury  and  South  Boston 
make  use  of  the  transit  facilities.  Adding,  then,  to  the  36.3  per 
cent,  living  decidedly  beyond  walking  distance,  one-half  the  number 
living  in  Roxbury  and  South  Boston  (i.  e.  one-half  of  32.2  per  cent, 
or  1 6. 1  per  cent.),  we  have  a  very  modest  approximation  of  over 
50  per  cent.  Our  conclusion  on  this  point,  then,  is  that  of  all  the 
persons  employed  in  the  factories  of  the  South  End  (this  does  not 
include  other  industrial  laborers  of  the  district)  at  least  one-half 
make  daily  use  of  the  transit  accommodations  between  their  homes 
and  their  work. 

Considering  the  operatives  more  in  detail,  it  is  found  that  in 
those  factories  where  the  proportion  of  women  to  men  is  large,  the 
proportion  of  those  living  near  the  factories  to  those  living  more 
than  walking  distance  away  is  also  large,  showing  undoubtedly  that 
the  women  and  girls  are  more  averse  to  riding  back  and  forth  to 
their  work  than  are  the  men.  We  cannot  stop  to  examine  each 
industry  in  turn  with  regard  to  residential  distribution  of  the  oper¬ 
atives,  but  a  word  should  be  said  with  reference  to  the  laundry 
employees.  These,  as  has  been  said,  are  mostly  girls  and  women, 
receiving  but  very  poor  wages,  some  as  low  as  $3.50  a  week.  They 
cannot,  with  these  small  wages,  afford  a  daily  car  fare  of  ten  cents ; 
they  are  therefore  obliged  to  live  within  easy  walking  distance  of 
the  shops  in  which  they  work.  Taking,  for  example,  one  laundry, 
employing  fifty-eight  persons,  of  which  only  two  are  men,  we  find 


16 


that  forty-two  live  in  Boston  (proper)  and  four  in  South  Boston, 
(i.  e.  forty-six  live  within  one  mile  of  the  laundry)  ;  of  the 
remaining  twelve  the  addresses  of  five  are  unknown,  and  seven 
live  outside  of  the  two  districts  mentioned.  It  is  probable  that 
the  seven  who  live  beyond  walking  distance  of  the  laundry  are 
the  better  paid  of  the  employees ;  in  three  of  the  cases  this  has  been 
ascertained  to  be  a  fact.  The  case  of  this  one  laundry  is  not 
exceptional,  —  it  illustrates  fairly  the  conditions  in  the  other  eight 
in  the  district.  Most  of  the  young  women  and  girls  employed 
in  the  South  End  factories  and  laundries  are  single  and  live  at  home 
with  their  parents  in  one  of  the  three  near-by  districts,  —  Boston 
(proper),  Roxbury,  and  South  Boston.  The  examination  of  the 
address  lists  obtained  at  the  various  factories  shows  only  a  few  cases 
of  women  or  girls  who  live  more  than  a  mile  from  their  work. 
Most  of  these  work  in  the  piano  factories,  where  higher  wages  are 
paid  them  than  in  laundries. 

In  the  case  of  the  three  largest  piano  factories,  we  find  that  only 
26  per  cent,  of  the  operatives  consent  to  live  near  by  their  place  of 
work.  We  have  noted  earlier  that  the  employees  in  the  piano  fac¬ 
tories  are  the  best  paid  and  the  most  progressive  of  all  the  factory 
employees  working  in  the  district.  More  of  them  have  discovered 
and  availed  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  better  and  cheaper 
residences  in  other  districts.  This  examination  of  the  residential 
distribution  of  the  best  paid  employees  (those  in  the  piano  factories), 
and  of  the  worst  paid  (those  in  the  laundries),  is  quite  sufficient  to 
show  the  influence  of  wages,  of  sex,  and  of  occupation  on  the 
location  of  the  homes  of  those  who  work  in  the  factories  of  this 
district. 

The  power  plant  of  the  Boston  Elevated  R.  R.  is  located  in  the 
South  End  and  employs  531  men  whom  we  have  not  included 
among  the  2,000  factory  operatives.  Upon  request,  the  vice-presi¬ 
dent  of  the  road  kindly  had  the  question  of  their  residential  distribu¬ 
tion  investigated,  and  he  sent  the  surprising  information  that, 
out  of  the  531  employees  working  at  the  plant,  only  thirty-seven 
lived  in  the  neighboring  South  End  district.  This  may  be  explained 
by  the  fact  that  but  few  of  these  employees  receive  less  than  $2.00 
a  day,  and  especially  by  the  fact  that  the  R.  R.  Company  grants  free 
transportation  to  its  employees  to  and  from  their  work,  and  few 
of  them,  therefore,  find  any  inducement  to  live  in  the  crowded  dis- 


17 


trict  near  the  power  plant.  This  is  a  special  case,  but  it  suggests 
what  would  be  the  choice  of  residence  made  by  South  End  em¬ 
ployees  if  the  element  of  cost  of  transportation  were  left  out  of  the 
question. 

In  this  connection  it  seems  desirable  to  speak  of  the  com¬ 
parative  facilities  of  transportation  to  and  from  the  districts  in  which 
the  factory  employees  reside. 

(a)  From  each  of  these  districts  (except  East  Boston)  a  five- 
cent  fare  is  sufficient  for  the  whole  trip,  and  free  transfers  are 
granted  at  fifteen  different  points  to  other  cars  running  in  the 
same  general  direction.  The  payment  of  three  cents  extra,  making 
a  fare  of  eight  cents,  entitles  one  to  a  transfer  to  lines  running  at 
right  angles  in  either  direction,  but,  in  general,  direct  lines  connect 
all  the  important  points  in  Greater  Boston,  and  in  several  cases  a 
continuous  ride  of  eight  to  ten  miles  may  be  taken  for  the  single  fare. 

In  the  case  of  East  Boston,  which  is  separated  from  Boston 
(proper)  by  water,  a  free  transfer  is  given  for  a  continuation  of 
the  route  on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel,  but  a  uniform  rate  of 
one  cent  is  charged  for  ferry  transportation.  The  extra  charge  and 
the  necessary  changes  —  ferry  and  car  —  account  for  the  fact  that 
fewer  of  the  South  End  factory  operatives  reside  in  that  district, 
although  rents  there  are  better  and  cheaper  than  in  Boston  (proper). 
Upon  the  completion  of  the  East  Boston  Tunnel  (street  car  subway) 
under  the  channel  to  East  Boston,  the  electric  car  route  will  then 
be  continuous  and  a  new  impetus  will  be  given  to  housing  in  that 
direction.  East  Boston,  which  is  now  ninth  in  our  list,  will  become 
for  South  End  employees  a  very  desirable  residence  section.  Until 
recently  a  double  fare  was  charged  to  Roslindale,  though  this  part 
of  the  city  is  nearer  than  several  other  districts  which  may  be 
reached  for  a  single  fare.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  route 
was  divided  between  two  different  companies.  The  West  End 
Road  has  extended  its  tracks  in  that  direction  and  has  absorbed  its 
smaller  competitor.  The  cheaper  fare  to  Roslindale  will  make  this 
district  more  easily  accessible  to  the  factory  operatives  and  will 
increase  its  proportionate  representation.  The  single  management 
of  street  railways,  through  the  extension  of  the  five-cent  fare,  ex¬ 
tends  the  limits  of  suburban  residence,  and  is  especially  of  benefit 
to  laborers  who  wish  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  of 
suburban  homes.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  order  of  repre- 


18 


sentation  for  the  nine  districts  spoken  of  above  is  determined  by 
the  grade  of  excellence  of  electric  transportation  facilities  between 
the  South  End  and  each  district. 

The  new  elevated  railway  (completed  June,  1901),  between 
Sullivan  Square  (Charlestown)  and  Dudley  Street  (Roxbury), 
passes  directly  through  the  South  End  district,  and  promises  very 
efficient  service  for  north  and  south  transportation  of  ^w&urban- 
ites.  Its  noisy  and  unsightly  features  tend  to  drive  out  the  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  South  End,  and  without  doubt  its  erection  will  result  in 
advancing  Roxbury,  Dorchester,  and  Jamaica  Plain  each  to  one 
of  the  first  three  places  in  our  list,  forcing  Boston  (proper)  — 
although  its  entire  area  is  within  walking  distance  of  the  South 
End  factories  —  into  fourth  place.  For  the  same  reason  Charles¬ 
town,  Malden,  and  Medford,  which  do  not  at  present  appear  among 
the  first  nine  favored  districts,  will  come  into  prominence,  to  the 
exclusion  of  Cambridge,  Cambridgeport,  and  Somerville  from  their 
present  position  as  desirable  residence  districts  for  South  End 
factory  operatives. 

(b)  An  examination  of  steam  railroad  facilities  has  also  been  care¬ 
fully  made.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  on  account  of 
the  distance  of  the  South  Terminal  and  Union  Stations  from  the 
factory  district,  the  steam  roads  are  little  used  by  these  operatives. 
The  additional  expense  of  getting  to  the  stations  and  the  gener¬ 
ally  higher  steam  railway  rates  make  it  impracticable  for  all  but 
the  very  best  paid  workmen  to  use  these  means  of  transportation. 
There  are  a  few  such  exceptional  cases,  but  these  are  of  persons 
living  far  out  of  town  with  special  reasons  for  such  location  of 
their  homes.  Of  all  the  districts  to  be  reached  by  steam  cars, 
Jamaica  Plain,  Malden,  and  Dorchester  offer  the  best  inducements 
in  the  way  of  fine  residence  accommodations  for  those  enterprising 
employees  who  wish  to  get  further  than  four  miles  from  the  heart 
of  the  city.  Until  recently  the  rates  on  steam  cars  were  so  high  that 
few  of  the  employees  of  the  class  with  which  we  are  dealing  could 
afford  to  go  so  far  from  their  work.  In  order  to  encourage  out-of- 
town  residence  of  workingmen  an  act  (Chap.  298  of  the  Mas¬ 
sachusetts  Labor  Laws  for  1900)  was  passed  establishing  work¬ 
ingmen’s  trains.  The  main  provisions  of  this  act  are  “  that  work¬ 
ingmen’s  trains  must  be  run  by  any  specified  railroad  company 
whose  line  terminates  in  the  city  of  Boston.  Such  trains  (not  less 


19 


than  two  each  way)  shall  arrive  at  Boston  between  six  and  half¬ 
past  seven  in  the  morning  and  between  six  and  half-past  seven  in 
the  evening  every  week-day,  and  shall  depart  between  the  same 
hours.  For  such  trains,  the  company,  for  distances  not  exceeding 
fifteen  miles,  shall  furnish  season  tickets  at  a  rate  not  exceeding 
three  dollars  per  mile  per  year,  and  quarterly  and  weekly  tickets 
at  a  rate  not  exceeding  one  dollar  per  mile  per  quarter.  All  such 
tickets  shall  be  good  once  a  day,  each  way,  for  six  days  in  the  week. 
For  such  trains  the  company  may  provide  special  cars.”  This  act 
took  effect  July  1st,  1900.  Under  these  regulations  a  man  living 
five  miles  from  Boston  can  for  $30.00  a  year  —  less  than  ten  cents 
for  the  daily  round  trip  —  have  his  home  in  such  a  healthful,  un¬ 
crowded  district  as  Dorchester,  and  still  conveniently  go  back  and 
forth  between  his  home  and  his  work.  At  the  same  time  he  can 
have  five  rooms  instead  of  three,  and  the  rent  enough  cheaper 
to  pay  for  the  whole  cost  of  his  transportation.  In  addition  he  might 
have  a  yard  in  which  his  children  could  play  and  where  he  might, 
if  he  wished,  raise  a  little  garden  truck  for  his  table.  The  saving  in 
doctor’s  bills  would  be  no  insignificant  item.  A  careful  study  of 
transportation  facilities  shows  that  this  is  the  main  question  which 
determines  the  location  of  those  homes  of  the  South  End  factory 
operatives  which  are  beyond  a  comfortable  walking  distance  from 
the  factories  in  which  they  work. 

B.  RESIDENTIAL  DISTRIBUTION  BY  WARDS  AND  PRECINCTS. 

The  lists  of  names  and  addresses  obtained  from  the  factories 
were  examined  in  order  to  determine  the  location  of  the  homes  of 
the  factory  operatives.  To  avoid  wearisome  labor,  which  would 
have  been  necessitated  by  plotting  on  a  map  the  exact  location  by 
street  and  number,  it  was  found  best  to  find  from  the  assessors’ 
street  directory  merely  the  ward  and  precinct  in  which  each  address 
was  located,  inasmuch  as  this  precinct  is  of  sufficiently  small  area, 
especially  near  the  center  of  the  city,  to  give  as  accurate  an  idea  of 
the  location  of  the  address  as  could  well  be  desired  for  this  purpose. 
Plate  II.  represents  the  location  of  all  the  51 1  addresses  considered. 
The  full  dots  represent  the  location  of  all  the  homes  of  those  who 
were  still  in  residence  at  the  addresses  given  in  May,  1901,  that  is, 
were  in  residence  at  that  address  for  at  least  one  year  beginning 


20 


May,  1900.  The  hollow  dots  represent  the  addresses  of  those  who 
lived  at  the  address  given  when  the  factory  lists  were  made  out,  but 
who  had  moved  before  May,  1901. 

On  Plate  II.  the  solid  block  represents  the  area  in  which  are 
situated  all  of  the  South  End  factories  —  the  wage  lists  of  some  of 
which  we  are  considering.  The  concentric  circles  are  respectively 
1,  2,  3,  4,  and  5  miles  in  radius,  having  as  a  centre  a  central  point 
in  the  factory  district.  Counting  the  spots  in  each  circle,  we  derive 
the  following  table :  — 

TABLE  4. 


297 

or 

58-1  % 

live 

within 

I 

mile  of  the  factory. 

214 

44 

4X*9 

u 

over 

I 

u 

from  the  factory, 

6 1 

44 

1  x*9 

<  4 

44 

2 

miles  “ 

44  44 

20 

44 

3-9 

44 

44 

3 

44 

44 

44  44 

3 

44 

It 

44 

4 

44 

4  4 

44  44 

1 

u 

lives 

44 

5 

44 

44 

44  44 

The  radial  distances  given  above  are  of  course  shorter  than  the 
walking  distances  through  the  streets.  It  would  therefore  be  safe 
to  assume  that  all  beyond  the  circle  of  one  mile  radius  have  occasion 
to  use  the  electric  cars  in  going  to  and  from  their  work.  Car  fares 
of  at  least  sixty  cents  per  week  must,  therefore,  furnish  an  item 
in  the  wage  budget,  and  saving  in  rent  due  to  more  remote 
location  from  the  central  portion  of  the  city  must  in  great  part  serve 
to  balance  this  additional  expenditure.  And  we  find  that  this  rule 
is  more  and  more  true  as  we  consider  those  who  are  living  further 
removed  from  the  central  district.  On  Plate  II.  are  not  represented 
the  locations  of  the  homes  of  1 1 1  South  End  factory  operatives  who 
live  outside  of  Boston.  When  these  are  included,  even  more 
strikingly  is  shown  the  tendency  for  better  paid  workmen  to  live 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  their  work.  Including  these  111, 
who  live  outside  the  twenty-five  wards  of  Boston,  we  have  the 
following  table  of  residential  distribution  complete  for  the  operatives 
whose  addresses  were  obtained. 


TABLE  5 

25  Wards  of  Boston 

.  . 

5: 

Other  Districts  : 

Cambridge  .... 

45 

Chelsea  ..... 

7 

Somerville  ..... 

1 1 

Everett  ..... 

5 

Others  (less  than  5  each)  . 

43 

1 

6 

All  of  these  districts  are  at  least  two  miles  from  the  Factory 
District;  so  then  adding  these  hi  to  the  214  in  Boston  over  one  mile 
from  the  factories,  we  have  a  new  total  of  319  factory  operatives 
who  live  more  than  one  mile  from  their  work.  Of  622  employees 
now  considered,  we  find  that  319,  or  51.1  per  cent.,  live  more  than 
one  mile  from  their  work.  This  result  becomes  reconciled  to  that 
obtained  more  roughly  by  districts  (page  16),  where  the  proportion 
was  shown  to  be  at  least  50  per  cent. 

An  examination  of  the  two  groups  —  A,  those  whose  addresses 
remained  unchanged,  and  B,  those  whose  addresses  were  changed 
within  one  year  —  shows  results  in  the  following  table :  — 

TABLE  6. 

Class  A.  Class  B. 

No.  Per  Cent.  No.  Per  Cent. 


Within 

Over 

I 

I 

mile 

tt 

70  ) 
99  i 

;i69  58.6 } 100,0 

227  ) 

ns  f343 

66.4 

33*6 

t  i 

2 

miles 

26 

15.4 

35 

10.3 

tt 

3 

tt 

10 

5-9 

10 

2.9 

tt 

4 

tt 

0 

3 

tt 

5 

tt 

0 

1 

From  this  table  we  see  that  of  Class  A,  41.4  per  cent,  live  within 
one  mile  from  their  work,  while  of  Class  B.  66.4  per  cent,  live 
within  one  mile,  showing  that  the  more  central  the  home  the  less  apt 
is  it  to  be  a  permanent  one.  When  we  consider  the  circle  of  two 
miles  in  radius  we  find  that  of  Class  A  there  are  56.8  per  cent.,  while 
of  Class  B  there  are  76.6  per  cent.,  showing  that,  even  considering 
this  wide  area,  distinctly  urban  residence  means  for  this  grade 
of  wage  earners  considerable  change  of  residence. 


22 


PLATE  I.  — OUTLINE  MAP  OF  BOSTON 


To  be  considered  as  an  outline  basis  for  PLATES  II  and  III. 


SHOWING  DISTRICTS,  WARDS  AND  PRECINCTS. 


I  S  Z  A 


SCHEME. 

So.  End  Factory  District 
™  Boundary  of  Boston, 
Ward  Boundaries. 
Precinct  Boundaries, 

1  Ward  Numbers. 

I  -  9  Precinct  Numbers. 

Park  Area. 


/  l  r  o  M 


THE  DISTRICTS  OF  BOSTON. 

DISTRICT.  WARDS. 

East  Boston  I,  2. 


South  Boston  13,  14.  >5- 

Roxbury  17,  18,  «9>  21> 22- 

Dorchester  so,  24. 

West  Roxbury  23. 

Brighton  25. 


A  K  1 


MIJT.UO  —  .1  STAJq 

•IH  bn*  A  33TAvl  '•C  7 (A  Bind  atiiUun  ns  gc  bawbiano:*  ad  oT 


A> 

O  /» 


C.  OWNERSHIP  OF  HOMES  BY  THE  FACTORY  OPERATIVES  (PLATE  III.). 

As  a  basis  for  this  study  the  most  representative  of  the  wage  lists 
obtained  from  the  South  End  factories  have  been  taken  and  a  slip 
made  out  for  each  operative,  the  total  number  of  slips  being  51 1. 
The  desired  information  was  arranged  on  the  slips  in  such  a  way 
as  to  facilitate  the  sorting  of  them  for  various  purposes  illustrated 
later.  A  sample  slip  containing  in  full  the  information  sought  for 
each  person  appears  below :  — 


VI. 

J. _  P.  R 


24—9 


No. 


Street. 


1901,  1900 


pianos  37 


m.  a. 


o 


(reserved  for  other  information) 


Sole  owner 

R.  E.  =  $2,600,  6,300  sq.  ft.,  $600,  $2,000.  gjc. 


This  slip  would  then  read  —  J -  P.  R - ,  a  piano  maker, 

aged  37,  living  at  No. - St.,  Boston,  Ward  24,  Precinct  9, 

works  in  the  South  End  Factory  VI.  (a  piano  factory,  the  name 
of  which  may  not  be  given),  and  that  there  are  no  other  male 
adults  living  in  his  house,  also  that  he  owns  this  house  and  land, 
valued  as  follows :  —  Total  valuation,  $2,600 ;  square  feet  of  land, 
6,300 ;  value  of  land,  $600 ;  value  of  building,  $2,000 ;  value  of  land 
per  foot,  gy2  cents. 

The  information  on  each  of  these  slips  was  obtained  from  the 
assessors’  books  and  from  the  lists  of  assessed  polls  for  the  years 
1901  and  1900,  and  may  be  considered  fairly  accurate. 


23 


From  these  data,  carefully  obtained  for  51 1  representative 
operatives  in  the  South  End  factories,  Tables  7 — 15  have  been 
compiled.  These  are  commented  upon  in  order.  The  general 


results  are  given  in  the  following  table :  — 

TABLE  7. 

A.  Number  found  at  addresses  given  in  assessed  polls  list  of 

May 

1901  : 

I.  Living  in  house  with  no  other  male  adults  — 

No. 

(#)  Owning  the  real  estate  occupied 

8 

(3)  Not  owning  the  real  estate  occupied 

H 

II.  Living  in  house  with  other  male  adults  — 

( a )  Of  same  surname . 

H 

(3)  Of  same  and  other  surnames  . 

88 

(c)  Of  different  surnames . 

45 

Total  (A)  —  all  males  .... 

169 

B.  Number  not  found  at  addresses  given  in  assessed 

polls,  lists  of  May,  1901  : 

I.  Surname  found  but  not  given  name  —  Males, 

44  5 

females,  22  ..... 

. 

66 

II.  Neither  given  or  surname  found  —  Males, 

157; 

females,  53  ..... 

. 

210 

III.  Streets  not  found  —  Males,  1 1  ;  females,  1  . 

12 

IV.  Street  found  but  not  number — Males,  45  ;  females,  9 

54 

Total  (B) . 

. 

342 

“  (A) . 

169 

Total  List  ...... 

5 1 1 

It  should  be  noted  that  out  of  the  total  of  511,  only  169  (Class 
A),  or  33  per  cent.,  are  found  on  the  list  of  assessed  polls.  Since 
our  list  contains  some  names  of  females  and  male  minors,  we  could 
not  expect  to  find  their  names  there.  To  the  total  found  it  would 
therefore  be  safe  to  add  at  least  the  number  of  those  at  whose 
addresses  were  found  adult  males  of  the  same  surname,  or  the 
sixty-six  of  Class  B,  Group  I.,  for  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  males 
(mostly  minors)  and  the  females  who  resided  with  other  members 


24 


of  the  family  have  probably  not  changed  their  addresses  during  the 
year  to  any  considerable  extent.  This  gives,  then,  a  total  of  235, 
or  46  per  cent.,  who  may  be  considered  permanent  residents 
for  the  entire  year;  while  276,  or  54  per  cent.,  have  changed 
their  residence  during  the  year,  May,  1900  —  May,  1901.  In  gen¬ 
eral,  then,  the  list  shows  that  the  wage  earners  of  this  class  —  the 
South  End  factory  operatives  —  preserve  little  permanency  of  resi¬ 
dence,  at  least  half  of  them  having  changed  their  addresses  within 
one  year.  There  are  but  few  cases  found  where  a  resident  has 
vacated  a  house  owned  by  himself. 

A.  Comparing  location  of  residence  of  owners  of  real  estate 
which  they  occupy  with  those  who  are  merely  renters,  we  derive 


the  following  table:  — 

TABLE 

8. 

Total  (Class  A)  considered  . 

.  , 

. 

169 

Total  Owners 

. 

. 

45 

Total  Renters 

-Owners - N 

• 

124 

-Renters - , 

No. 

Per  Cent. 

No. 

Per  Cent. 

Within  1  mile  . 

.  IO 

22.2 

60 

4^5 

Over  1  “ 

35 

77.8 

64 

51.6 

Within  2  miles  - 

40 

88.8 

103 

83.I 

Over  2  “ 

5 

1 1 .1 

21 

16.9 

“  3  u 

.  2 

4.4 

8 

6.5 

Here  we  see  that  of  those  who  own  their  residences  only  22.2 
per  cent,  live  within  one  mile  of  the  factory  district;  of  those 
who  rent  48.4  per  cent,  are  within  one  mile;  while  88.8  per  cent, 
of  the  owners  live  within  two  miles  and  only  83.1  of  renters  live 
within  two  miles.  In  the  larger  area  of  two  miles  radius  the  rule 
seems  not  to  be  followed,  and  this  is  due  to  the  more  than  propor¬ 
tionally  large  number  of  houses  owned  by  the  occupiers  on  that 
belt  between  one  and  two  miles  distant  from  the  factory  districts, 
particularly  Wards  19,  21,  and  22,  the  in-town  portion  of  West 
Roxbury,  which  district  seems  to  be  a  favorite  one  for  ownership 
of  real  estate  by  these  residents.  No  doubt  this  apparent  contradic¬ 
tion  of  the  rule  —  well  illustrated  by  the  circle  of  one  mile  radius 
—  is  due  to  the  fact  that  when  transportation  facilities  were  less 


25 


developed  this  was  the  outermost  margin  of  possible  residence  for 
these  employees,  and  at  that  time  that  land  was  less  valuable  than 
at  present  and  could  be  purchased  by  them.  In  a  few  years,  no 
doubt,  the  ownership  of  real  estate  will  be  more  marked  in  the  outer 
circles  beyond  two  miles  radius ;  already  there  is  a  movement  in  that 
direction,  as  several  cases  in  Ward  24  well  illustrate.  The  time  is 
rapidly  coming  when  it  w  ill  be  no  longer  profitable  for  one  whose 
income  does  not  exceed  $20  per  week  to  own  property  for  residence 
purposes  within  the  circle  whose  radius  is  two  miles  from  the 
central  district  here  considered. 

Of  the  total  list  of  51 1  operatives  here  considered,  only  sixty- 
eight,  or  13.3  per  cent.,  have  interests  in  the  homes  in  which  they 
live.  The  assessed  valuation  of  all  the  property  occupied  by  each 
of  the  51 1  operatives  was  obtained  from  the  books  of  the  assessors 
of  real  estate  for  Boston  for  the  year  1900.  The  assessed  values  of 
only  the  sixty-eight,  however,  are  considered  here.  It  is  con¬ 
venient  to  group  the  sixty-eight  operatives  who  were  found  to  have 
interests  in  the  property  which  they  occupied  thus :  — 


TABLE  9  (a). 

(1)  21  or  30%  were  sole  owners  of  the  property  occupied  by  them. 

(2)  11  or  16.1%  were  part  “  “  “  u  u 

(3)  36  or  53-9%  were  occupiers  merely  of  property  owned  by 

relatives. 

68  hold  interests  in  the  property  occupied. 

The  valuation  of  the  property  occupied  by  each  group  may  be 
summarized  as  follows :  — 


TABLE  9  (3). 


Total  Valuation 
Real  Estate. 


Average  Valuation. 
No.  of  Persons.  Real  Estate. 


(1)  Sole  owners  .  .  .  $84,600 

(2)  Part  owners  .  .  .  33,400 

(3)  Occupiers  (merely)  110,400 


21 

$4,028.59 

1 1 

3>°36-37 

36 

3,067.23 

$228,400 

Average  for  68  cases 


68  $3>358-83 
$3,358.83 


26 


It  thus  appears  that  the  average  valuation  for  the  cases  of  each 
group  is  nearly  the  same,  showing  that  whatever  the  form  of  the 
interest  in  the  property,  that  fact  has  little  influence  upon  the  choice 
of  the  house  occupied. 

The  range  of  valuation  of  each  group  does  not  differ  so  greatly 
as  might  be  expected.  For  the  three  classes  it  is : 


TABLE  9  (c). 


Highest. 

Lowest. 

(0 

Sole  owners  . 

$10,200 

$1,200 

(») 

Part  owners  . 

7,200 

0 

O 

(3) 

Occupiers  (merely)  . 

6,500 

1,000 

It  is  interesting  to  note  here  that  there  were  found  two  operatives 
on  our  lists  not  included  in  any  of  the  three  groups  above,  who 
owned  property  other  than  that  which  they  occupied,  valued  in  the 
one  case  at  $5,900  and  in  the  other  case  at  $5,800. 

Of  all  the  blocks  of  real  estate  owned  by  factory  operatives 
there  are  but  three  of  which  the  assessed  valuation  exceeds 
$6,000.  And  excepting  the  two  cases  mentioned,  no  one  was 
found  to  own  real  estate  other  than  that  which  he  or  she  occupied. 

The  operatives  who  own  real  estate  which  they  occupy  have 
already  been  considered  together  with  regard  to  radial  distances 
of  their  homes  from  the  factories,  as  compared  with  the  radial  dis¬ 
tances  for  renters.  Here  the  three  classes  of  owners  are  compared 
in  this  respect.  The  facts  may  be  summarized  thus :  — 

TABLE  10. 


/ - 

—Number  and  per  ce 

:nt.  living  within— 

- , 

Class 

No. 

1  mile  belt. 

2  mile  belt. 

3  mile  belt. 

4  mile  belt. 

(0 

21 

3  or  14.3% 

13  or  61.9% 

2  or  9.5% 

3  °r  1 4-3  % 

(») 

I  I 

3  or  27-3 

8  or  72.7 

(3) 

36 

ii  or  30.6 

19  or  52.8 

6  or  16.6 

In  a  graphic  way  this  distribution  is  clearly  brought  out  on 
Plate  III.  Of  each  class  considerably  more  than  one-half  are  found 
to  live  within  the  two-mile  belt,  and  the  most  of  these  are 
located  in  the  southern  portion  of  that  belt.  This  concentration 
is  shown  more  clearly  in  the  table  of  valuation  by  wards  following : 


27 


TABLE  ii. 


No.  of 

Total 

Valuation. 

Valuation. 

Valuation 

Ward. 

Owners. 

Valuation. 

Class  (1). 

Class  (2). 

Class  (3) 

22 

H 

$53,600 

$22,800 

$7,300 

$23,500 

24 

8 

20,400 

8,500 

I  1 ,900 

l8 

7 

23,000 

7>3oo 

15^7°° 

21 

6 

24,700 

12,900 

5,800 

6,000 

19 

6 

22,300 

5, 100 

3, ooo 

14,200 

5 

9,40° 

1,200 

3, 200 

5, ooo 

16 

5 

21,100 

12,500 

7,200 

1,400 

*3 

4 

5,800 

5,800 

20 

3 

13, 100 

4,600 

2,900 

5,600 

*5 

3 

9>3°° 

4,000 

4,000 

I?3°° 

H 

2 

8,600 

8,600 

5  others  1  each  5 

17,100 

5,700 

11,400 

16  Wards 

68 

$228,400 

$84,600 

$33.4°° 

$110,400 

From  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  Ward  22  ranks  far  ahead 
for  Classes  1  and  2,  and  is  surpassed  by  only  one  other  ward,  Ward 
20,  for  Class  2.  For  total  valuation  Ward  22  furnishes  $53,600, 
or  over  twice  that  of  the  next  highest,  Ward  21,  with  $24,700.  Then 
follow  in  close  succession  Wards  18,  19,  16,  and  24,  each  with  a 
total  of  over  $20,000.  It  thus  appears  that  for  the  factory  operatives 
who  are  able  to  buy  the  houses  in  which  they  live  Ward  22  is  by 
far  considered  the  best  for  that  purpose,  and  then  in  point  of 
desirability  follow  Wards  21,  18,  19,  16,  and  24,  which  wards,  with 
the  exception  of  the  last  named,  lie  within  the  southwest  quadrant 
of  the  circular  area  whose  radius  is  two  miles,  the  center  being  the 
center  of  the  factory  district.  The  data  are  hardly  sufficient  to 
give  any  very  definite  results  as  to  the  relative  advantage  of  each 
ward  for  Classes  I,  2,  and  3. 

Two  precincts  of  Ward  22  and  one  of  Ward  21  deserve  special 
notice,  inasmuch  as  they  contain  considerable  part  of  the  property 


thus  owned. 

TABLE  12. 

Ward. 

Precinct. 

Total  Value. 

22 

3 

4  homes 

$20,100 

21 

2 

4  “ 

18,900 

22 

5 

5  “ 

16,400 

28 


In  these  three  precincts  the  thirteen  owners  are  nearly  all 
Germans,  as  such  names  as  Gramer,  Kraft,  and  Vogel  would  lead 
one  to  suppose.  Wards  21  and  22  in  West  Roxbury  are  quite  gen¬ 
erally  settled  by  Germans,  and  these  residents  are  considered  very 
enterprising  and  industrious  people.  It  is  not  surprising  to  find 
that  the  precincts  containing  the  greatest  amount  of  property  owned 
by  South  End  factory  operatives  lie  just  in  this  German  settlement, 
especially  when  we  know  that  the  most  skilled  workmen  in  the 
South  End  piano  factories  are  Germans  and  Swedes  from  West 
Roxbury.  These  home-loving  workingmen  who  live  at  a  consider¬ 
able  distance  from  the  factory  district  in  which  they  work,  do  so  in 
order  to  avoid  the  congestion  of  the  more  central  districts.  They 
may  well  be  held  up  as  models  of  thrift  and  sound  common  sense, 
and  they  form  a  delightful  contrast  to  that  less  skilled,  shifting, 
housed-but-homeless  class  of  workmen  too  commonly  found  in  such 
manufacturing  centers  as  the  South  End.  The  showing  made  by 
these  thirteen  Germans  is  valuable  evidence  of  the  larger  possi¬ 
bilities  of  home  life  open  to  the  wage-earner  of  steady  industry  and 
foresight. 

While  we  are  considering  this  subject  of  ownership  of  property 
it  would  be  fruitful  to  consider  (with  regard  to  the  unity  of  the 
family)  the  169  who  have  not  changed  their  addresses.  To  this 
end  the  following  table  has  been  prepared :  — 


TABLE  13. 

/—Number  of  other  Adult  Males  in  Houses  Specified- 


Houses 

No.  of  Houses 
considered  . 

No  other  .  .  . 

One  other  .  . 

Two  others  .  . 

Three  others  . 

Total . 

Occupied  by  the  owners, 

68 

l6 

39 

77 

47 

*79 

Not  occupied  by  the  owners, 

101 

6 

6 

2 1 5 

192 

419 

Totals 

169 

22 

45 

292 

239 

598 

Sz 

e d  o 


2.6 

4.0 

3-5 


From  this  table  it  is  seen  that  of  those  who  own  the  property 
which  they  occupy  only  30.9  per  cent,  have  no  other  male  adults  than 
members  of  the  family  living  with  them  in  the  house,  while  in  the 
case  of  those  not  owning  the  property  this  may  be  said  of  only 


29 


2.8  per  cent.  The  sixty-eight  houses  of  the  owners  are  occupied  by 
a  total  of  179  male  adults,  or  an  average  of  2.6  persons  per  house, 
while  the  101  houses  occupied  by  non-owners  are  occupied  by  419 
male  adults,  or  an  average  of  4.0  male  adults  per  house,  from 
which  it  may  be  concluded  that  those  who  own  their  homes  are 
less  inclined  to  share  them  with  other  male  adults  than  are  those 
who  rent. 

The  following  table  considers  the  owners  in  three  classes :  — 


TABLE  14. 


(1)  Homes  of  sole  owners  .  .  21  7  3  3  25  38  1.1 8 

(2)  Homes  of  part  owners  .  .  11  2  6  2  16  26  2.46 

(3)  Homes  owned  by  relatives  .36  7  30  72  6  115  3.36 


68  16  39  77  47  179  2.63 

The  sixty-eight  owners  considered  above  include  thirty-six 
persons  who  live  in  property  owned  by  relatives.  When  these  are 
excluded  from  the  sixty-eight  whom  we  called  owners,  we  find 
that  the  remaining  thirty-two  live  in  houses  the  total  male  population 
of  which  is  but  sixty-four,  or  an  average  of  two  male  adults  per 
house.  Carrying  the  process  of  elimination  still  further,  we  find 
that  in  the  houses  of  the  twenty-one  who  are  sole  owners  of  the 
house  occupied,  the  total  population  is  but  thirty-eight,  or  1.81  per¬ 
sons  per  house.  Were  there  a  larger  number  of  such  cases  as 
evidence,  we  would  conclude  that  ownership  and  family  privacy 
(fairly  represented  by  male  adult  population  per  house)  are  very 
closely  related,  and  that  the  more  complete  the  ownership  of  the 
house  the  less  it  is  probable  that  other  persons  than  immediate 
members  of  the  family  of  the  owner  will  also  reside  with  him. 

A  comparison  of  ages  of  the  owners  of  homes  and  of  renters  may 
be  made  with  profit. 


30 


TABLE  15. 

Average  age  of  48  owners  was  42.4  years. 

“  “  “  126  “  “  38.4  “ 

Diff.  between  average  age  of  owners  and  of  renters,  4.0  “ 

This  difference  of  four  years  between  the  average  ages  of  the 
owners  and  the  renters  is  to  be  expected,  since  workingmen  could 
hardly  be  expected  to  own  their  homes  until  after  several  years 
of  saving. 

When  we  compare  the  average  of  owners  and  part  owners  with 
that  of  occupiers  of  houses  owned  by  some  member  of  the  family 
we  find  that  the  average  age  of  the  former  was  forty- two  years, 
while  the  average  age  of  the  latter  was  thirty-seven  years.  This 
result  is  conceivable,  since  younger  men  have  less  hesitation  in 
occupying  the  property  of  their  relatives,  while  older  men  may  be 
expected  to  own  their  own  homes  to  a  large  extent. 

Considering  the  forty-eight  owners  or  part  owners  whose  ages 
are  given,  we  find  that  according  to  age  groups  they  are  distributed 
as  follows : 

TABLE  1 6. 


Age  Group 

No. 

Per  cent 

20-30  years 

12 

25.0 

30-40  “ 

12 

75-°%  J 

r  25*° 

40-50  “ 

H 

a9-0 

50-60  “ 

9 

1 

1 

18.8  V  50.0% 

73  “ 

1 

1 

l  2.1  ) 

48  100.0% 

We  find  that  one-half  of  those  who  own  their  homes  are  over 
forty,  and  that  75  per  cent,  are  over  thirty  years  of  age,  showing  that 
most  of  the  property  is  acquired  after  the  workingman  has  passed 
his  thirtieth  year. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  determine  the  relation  of  age  to  distance 
from  the  factory  district,  but  the  data  at  hand  would  hardly  justify 
any  conclusions  on  this  point,  inasmuch  as  there  are  few  operatives 
in  the  South  End  factories  over  fifty  years  of  age,  and  a  rather 
small  number  under  thirty.  A  comparison  also  of  the  ages  in 
different  employments  would  hardly  be  profitable  in  this  case  on 
account  of  the  paucity  of  data. 


31 


SECTION  V.  DETERMINING  FACTORS  IN  THE  CHOICE 
OF  HOMES  BY  FACTORY  OPERATIVES. 


A.  The  great  prevalence  of  the  renting  of  homes,  even  by  those 
whose  incomes  would  admit  of  the  purchase  of  them,  and  aided  as 
they  might  be  by  the  many  agencies  which  make  home-buying  a 
very  simple  and  safe  investment,  would  seem  very  surprising. 
Inquiry  of  those  whose  homes  both  in  the  city  and  suburbs  have 
been  visited,  brings  out  the  fact  that  the  uncertainty  of  continuous 
employment  in  any  one  locality  renders  it  inadvisable  for  those  with¬ 
out  independent  means  to  hold  real  estate,  when  a  change  of  employ¬ 
ment  to  another  locality  might  force  them  to  dispose  of  it  at  a 
probable  loss.  It  would  appear  that,  in  many  occupations,  house¬ 
holding  by  workingmen  would  be  decidedly  unwise.  This  is  true 
in  most  occupations  such  as  those  in  the  South  End  factories  which 
we  have  been  considering.  Realizing  this,  but  few  of  the  workmen 
have  invested  in  homes,  as  we  have  seen.  Most  of  those  who  have 
so  invested  were  found  to  be  piano  factory  operatives  beyond  middle 
age,  well  established  in  business  and  receiving  wages,  principally 
for  piece  work,  ranging  from  $20  to  $30  per  week,  and  their 
employment  can  be  considered  fairly  constant.  In  general  we  may 
say  that  home-buying  for  the  ordinary  workingman  is  inadvisable, 
for  usually  he  will  be  unable  to  buy  the  home  outright,  and  a 
workingman  who  has  a  mortgage  on  his  home  generally  has  his 
body  and  soul  mortgaged  with  it.  In  addition  to  his  being  bound  to 
one  locality  when  his  employment  may  have  been  changed  to  another, 
he  must  endure  a  vast  amount  of  worry  incident  to  the  payment, 
periodically,  of  interest  on  the  mortgage,  and  usually  after  buying 
a  house  under  instalment  conditions  he  finds  that  he  has  paid  too 
much  for  it.  In  general  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  keep  his  sav¬ 
ings  in  cash  at  a  savings-bank  and  buy  the  home  when  he  is  able 
to  pay  for  it  in  toto.  For  the  workingman,  cash  is  the  best  form 
in  which  to  keep  his  savings,  for  cash  is  easily  mobile  and  does 
not  depreciate.  Savings-banks  furnish  the  best  means  of  invest¬ 
ment  for  the  workingman,  for  funds  invested  there  may  serve  as  an 
out-of-work  insurance,  being  worth  far  more  in  times  of  panic  than 
in  prosperous  times,  while  real  estate  during  commercial  crises  often 
suffers  an  enormous  depreciation.  Furthermore,  the  ordinary  work¬ 
man  cannot  be  expected  to  have  a  wide  knowledge  of  real  estate 


32 


values  nor  the  time  for  any  considerable  study  of  such  matters. 
Usually,  also,  there  are  very  few  chances  for  very  profitable  small 
investments.  Thus  the  savings-bank  becomes  practically  the  only 
means  for  investment  of  small  savings,  and  it  is  generally  the  safest. 
The  many  building  agencies  which  seek  to  encourage  the  purchase  of 
homes  by  workingmen  can  seldom  offer  any  inducements  to  the 
lower  grade  of  investors ;  they  cater  more  largely  to  the  middle  class, 
especially  to  those  whose  incomes  are  moderately  large  and  certain. 
The  smaller  investor  must,  therefore,  assume  his  own  risks  in  select¬ 
ing  and  purchasing  his  home,  and  too  often  he  suffers  at  the  hands 
of  a  speculator. 

Unfortunately,  however,  savings  for  any  purpose  play  but  a 
small  part  in  the  standard  of  living  of  the  lower  grades  of  labor; 
especially  is  this  true  of  those  grades  of  which  the  members  have 
an  income  of  less  than  $20  per  week.  Workingmen  of  this  grade 
are  excessively  blessed  with  an  abundance  of  children,  and,  in  con¬ 
sequence,  their  incomes  are  distributed  among  so  many  that  they  go 
to  purchase  bare  living  necessities.  In  such  cases  savings  can  fur¬ 
nish  no  item  in  the  standard  of  living  and  no  surplus  whatever  can 
accumulate  from  such  incomes.  But  when  we  consider  the  better 
paid  workmen,  such  as  those  working  in  the  piano  factories  at  the 
South  End,  whose  income  is  seldom  under  $20  per  week  and  often 
as  high  as  $30,  we  may  expect  to  find  a  surplus  over  necessary  ex¬ 
penditures.  It  would  seem  that  here  at  least  savings  should  furnish 
an  appreciable  item  in  the  wage  budget,  else  the  standard  of  living 
will  include  comparative  luxuries,  and  thus  make  possible  a  reduc¬ 
tion  of  the  standard  wage.  Savings,  on  the  contrary,  furnish  a 
legitimate  item  in  the  standard  of  living,  and  serve,  not  to  reduce  the 
wage  standard,  but  rather  to  lift  the  workingman  himself  to  a  higher 
position  in  the  economic  market. 

No  doubt  one  reason  why  we  do  not  find  more  operatives  of  this 
class  owning  their  own  houses  is  due  to  the  fact  that  a  man  who 
has  the  ability  to  save  $3,000  with  which  to  purchase  a  house  from 
an  income  of  $20  to  $30  per  week  is  one  who  would  soon  gain  the 
ability  to  obtain  a  better  position  than  that  of  a  factory  operative. 
Such  employees  grow  into  larger  positions  as  they  gain  greater 
economic  freedom  and  independence.  One  with  the  ability  to  make 
a  permanent  and  profitable  investment  in  a  home  would  undoubtedly 
succeed  better  as  a  director  of  others  than  as  a  mere  workman.  This 


33 


same  larger  ability  demanded  of  one  who  shall  succeed  in  purchasing 
a  home  may  also  account  for  the  smaller  number  of  male  adults, 
other  than  members  of  the  family,  who  live  in  the  homes  of  the 
owners.  One  who  has  the  ability  to  purchase  a  house  rises  above 
the  necessity  of  securing  aid  in  the  payment  of  rent;  the  same 
motive  which  impels  him  to  buy  the  home  leads  him  to  exclude  from 
it  all  discordant  or  extraneous  elements  and  to  preserve  it  in  its 
most  homelike  aspects  —  those  of  privacy  and  of  natural  unity. 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  average  age  of  owners  of  their 
homes  is  greater  than  the  average  age  of  the  renters.  Young  men, 
especially  those  under  thirty  years  of  age,  are  usually  so  unsettled 
in  occupation  or  circumstances  that  it  is  unwise  for  them  to  invest 
in  permanent  homes.  Since  location  and  character  of  the  home  is 
considered  the  first  index  of  social  position  (especially  among  newly 
married  people),  young  married  men  are  unwilling  to  take  homes 
which  are  within  their  incomes.  It  would  manifestly  be  impossible 
for  them  to  purchase  such  homes  outright,  and  hence  the  young 
man  rents  property  and  pays  a  rental  which  for  the  time  is  not 
properly  proportioned  to  his  income,  but  to  which  at  length  his 
income  rises  as  his  industrial  efficiency  increases.  For  a  number  of 
years,  therefore,  there  is  no  attempt  on  his  part  to  own  his  home, 
because  his  energies  are  taxed  to  the  utmost  in  order  that  he  may 
preserve  the  abnormal  standard  of  living  which  his  social  aspirations 
led  him  to  assume  at  the  start.  After  a  period  more  or  less  pro¬ 
longed,  depending  upon  the  individual’s  increased  skill  and  the 
opportunities  for  advancement  in  his  chosen  occupation,  there  comes 
a  time  when  his  income  is  normally  adjusted  to  his  standard  of 
living.  Then  the  young  man  must  decide  whether  or  not  he  shall 
include  the  item  of  savings  as  an  item  in  that  standard  for  the  period 
during  which  his  income  and  efficiency  are  at  the  highest  point. 
During  this  period  of  his  life  between  the  ages  of  thirty  and  fifty 
years,  when  his  social  ambitions  are  less  operative,  and  his  industrial 
connections  are  more  permanent,  the  family  man  finds  a  surplus 
over  necessary  or  desirable  expenditure  which  he  can  begin  to  set 
aside  towards  the  purchase  of  a  permanent  home.  The  process  of 
purchase  once  begun  results  in  greater  and  greater  enthusiasm  as 
the  goal  is  approached,  and  at  length,  if  his  energies  have  been  well 
directed,  the  workingman  finds  himself  the  possessor  of  a  comfort¬ 
able  home.  It  is  not  the  attempt  to  purchase,  but  the  method  of 


34 


purchase  which  so  often  results  in  discouraging  failure.  From  the 
observation  of  a  number  of  cases  the  writer  believes  that,  as  a 
rule,  investment  in  real  estate  by  the  workingman  is  hardly  wise 
except  where  he  can  act  through  some  agency  which  shall  afford  him 
adequate  information  as  to  desirable  property  and,  above  all,  insure 
him  that  protection  from  speculators  at  whose  hands  small  investors 
of  all  classes  suffer  so  much  without  possibility  of  redress.  In 
general,  also,  the  workingman  should  invest  his  earnings  in  savings- 
banks  until  he  shall  be  able  to  purchase  his  home  outright,  if  he 
purchases  it  at  all;  for  during  the  process  of  a  long  purchase, 
circumstances  may  have  changed  so  as  to  have  rendered  the  purchase 
altogether  undesirable. 

With  regard  to  the  renting  of  homes,  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that 
the  rents  paid  by  the  workingmen  in  Boston  are  higher  than  those 
paid  in  any  other  large  city  of  the  United  States.  This  is  in  part 
due  to  their  living  in  an  urban  area  where  the  value  of  land  enters 
more  largely  into  the  rental  of  the  house.  In  the  Tenement  House 
Census  made  in  1891-1892  by  the  Massachusetts  State  Bureau  of 
Statistics  of  Labor,  it  was  shown  that  the  rents  paid  in  this  immediate 
factory  district  of  the  South  End  were :  — 

For  3  rooms,  per  week  ....  $2.00 — $3.00 

For  4  rooms,  per  week  ....  $2.75 — $4.00 

Since  1890  the  valuation  of  real  estate  (in  this  district)  has 
decreased  slightly,  and  the  district  is  becoming  more  undesirable 
as  a  residence  district,  —  shown  by  an  increased  number  of  room 
vacancies,  —  so  that,  on  the  whole,  house  rents  have  decreased  since 
that  time.  But  so  undesirable  is  the  district  as  a  residential  quarter, 
and  so  much  cheaper  are  the  rents  in  the  suburban  districts,  now  so 
easily  accessible  by  electric  street-cars,  that  there  seems  to  be  no 
apparent  reason  why  this  district  should  not  be  rapidly  depopulated 
of  the  better  grade  of  the  factory  operatives.  General  information 
on  this  point,  which  it  is  impossible  to  arrange  in  any  definite  statisti¬ 
cal  form,  information,  however,  which  was  obtained  by  personal 
visits  to  the  homes  of  workingmen  both  in  the  central  and  the 
suburban  districts,  confirms  the  view  that  rents  are  enough  cheaper 
in  the  outer  districts  to  furnish  a  transportation  fund  sufficient  for 
the  regular  use  of  the  income  producing  members  of  the  family 
in  getting  to  and  from  their  work  in  the  central  district.  Where 


35 


a  workingman  whose  income  is  from  $20  to  $30  a  week  pays  $4 
to  $5  a  week  for  his  living  quarters  in  the  immediate  factory  district 
he  can  secure  the  same  accommodations  in  a  healthier  suburban 
environment  for  at  least  $1  a  week  less.  This  difference  will  more 
than  cover  the  weekly  car  fare,  at  five  cents  a  trip,  which  must  be 
expended  by  the  chief  income  producer  of  the  family. 

B.  The  work  of  encouraging  suburban  residence  on  the  part 
of  workingmen  is  one  of  the  most  worthy  efforts  than  can  be  made 
toward  solving  city  problems.  Almost  every  large  city  has  housing 
associations  having  this  object  in  view,  but  the  supply  of  houses 
which  they  have  been  able  to  furnish  is  far  below  the  demand,  and 
many  of  those  that  have  been  built  are  located  in  the  crowded  dis¬ 
tricts  of  the  city,  thus  adding  to  the  congestion  which  they  should 
relieve.  Doctor  Gould  in  his  report  on  the  housing  of  the  working 
people  1  says :  “  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  remunerative 
character  of  building  enterprises  conducted  in  the  interests  of  the 
artisan  and  other  well-paid  laborers.  Money  invested  for  this  purpose 
brings  a  safe  and  stable  return.  There  is,  therefore,  absolutely  no 
reason  why  every  workingman  in  receipt  of  a  fair  wage  should  not 
be  able  to  command  a  favorable  living  environment.”  And  further 
he  says  that  “  If  the  Boston  Co-operative  Building  Company  can 
afford  to  provide  sanitary  and  convenient  accommodations  at  a 
figure  considerably  smaller  than  is  often  charged  for  houses  which 
are  so  bad  that  they  have  to  be  closed  by  public  authority,  and  yet 
earn  6  per  cent.2  besides  providing  for  a  substantial  depreciation 
fund,  there  would  seem  to  be  absolutely  no  reason  why  private  capital 
should  not  house  the  working  population  of  Boston  on  a  satisfac¬ 
tory  commercial  basis.,,  Housing  associations  have  as  yet  failed 
to  combine  into  a  vital  working  principle  the  two  necessary  lines  of 
action  —  restriction  of  congestion  with  an  encouragement  of  decen¬ 
tralization.  They  have  given  their  attention  to  the  one  or  the  other 
with  usually  a  fair  degree  of  success.  In  the  one  case  they  have 
replaced  unsanitary,  densely  populated  tenements  with  more  health¬ 
ful,  less  crowded  dwellings  in  the  congested  districts.  In  the  other 
they  have  erected  suburban  modern  dwellings  which  serve  their 
purpose  fairly  well,  but  which  usually  are  rented  by  a  better  class 
,of  occupants  than  those  for  which  they  are  intended.  But  in  all  their 


(1) .  Eighth  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  Washington,  1S95,  p.  419. 

(2)  Now  5#. 


36 


efforts,  there  seems  to  have  been  no  idea  of  making  the  one  enter¬ 
prise  serve  as  a  feeder  to  the  other  through  an  attempt  to  adapt  the 
link  of  transportation  to  their  purposes.  The  first  method  which 
strengthens  the  force  of  centralization  is  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  second  which  adds  to  the  force  of  decentralization.  In  their 
urban  houses  they  should  encourage  the  residence  of  those  who 
must  remain  near  the  central  districts;  to  their  suburban  houses 
they  should  seek  to  draw  off  that  portion  from  the  urban  houses 
which  can  conveniently  live  at  a  distance  from  the  urban  districts. 
To  this  end,  transportation  between  the  two  districts  should  be 
so  adapted  that  the  transfer  might  be  readily  made.  A  careful 
oversight  of  this  correlating  factor  might  result  in  the  increased 
value  of  the  suburban  houses  which  should  more  than  offset  a  possi¬ 
ble  decrease  in  the  profits  of  the  urban  houses,  resulting  from  an 
outflow  from  them  to  the  outer  district.  By  bringing  the  two  opera¬ 
tions  together  through  the  medium  of  increased  facilities  of  trans¬ 
portation,  the  actual  service  of  housing  associations  might  be  greatly 
increased.  In  all  work  of  this  kind,  however,  philanthropy  must 
not  play  too  large  a  part,  else  it  will  perpetuate  the  evils  which  it 
seeks  to  avoid.  The  working  principle  of  “  philanthropy  and  five 
per  cent.”  involves  no  contradiction.  The  housing  of  several  hun¬ 
dred  working  girls  in  a  large  building  in  the  South  End  at  rates 
which  are  to  be  below  the  normal,  the  venture  being  subsidized  by 
large  gifts  for  the  purchase  of  the  building,  is  not  altogether  to  be 
looked  upon  with  approval,  since  such  subsidization  will  result  in 
reducing  the  standard  wages  of  the  girls  who  are  to  be  thus  housed. 
The  main  objection,  however,  is  that  this  venture  will  serve  to 
concentrate  in  one  district  a  large  number  of  working  girls  under 
conditions  which  will  counteract  the  decentralizing  forces  tending  to 
encourage  residence  in  the  less  thickly  populated  and  less  demoral¬ 
izing  sections  of  the  city. 

(a)  The  centralizing  forces  which  have  caused  the  wonderful 
growth  of  large  cities  during  the  past  century  or  more  should 
find  decentralizing  forces  to  counteract  them.  The  attractions  en¬ 
couraging  urban  residence  have  become  so  diverse  and  powerful 
that  there  is  no  need  of  philanthropic  effort  in  the  direction  of 
furnishing  more  attractive  houses  within  the  city.  The  effort  ex¬ 
pended  should  be  such  as  shall  encourage  suburban  residence  by 
lessening  the  expenditure  of  time,  money,  and  energy  required  in 


37 


getting  from  those  homes  to  the  industrial  center  and  to  the  scenes 
where  may  be  enjoyed  the  pleasures  and  privileges  of  urban  life. 
Transportation  is  that  great  economic  factor  which  after  centuries 
of  slow  development  has  suddenly  become  a  force  of  such  magnitude 
that  it  is  able  for  one-half  of  the  day  to  depopulate  large  central 
districts  which  during  business  hours  furnish  hardly  standing- 
room  for  the  multitudes  gathered  there.  A  power,  which  succeeds 
in  moving  to  and  from  the  center  of  the  great  city  of  New  York 
more  people  in  the  course  of  a  year  than  are  moved  on  all  the 
steam  railways  of  United  States  taken  together  during  the  same 
length  of  time,1  should  be  given  its  due  prominence  as  a  means  of 
relieving  the  extreme  concentration  observed  in  certain  sections  of 
Boston.  The  direction  of  such  a  force  should  not  be  left  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  a  single  corporation,  but  should  have  the  most  careful 
attention  of  those  interested  in  the  life  of  the  industrial  population 
of  our  cities.  The  lives  of  thousands  of  workingmen  depend  upon 
the  growth  of  this  great  factor  in  modern  civilization.  It  is  easier 
to  prevent  the  abnormal  growth  of  great  crowded  areas  than  to 
get  rid  of  great  tenement  slums.  If  the  industrial  population  is 
enabled  to  get  conveniently  and  quickly  to  the  more  habitable  dis¬ 
tricts,  where  better  houses  can  be  secured  for  less  money,  the  cen¬ 
tralizing  tendency  will  be  in  large  measure  offset  and  we  shall 
have  urban  districts  of  a  more  homogeneous  character,  while  the 
cry  of  “  no  room  to  live  ”  will  be  unheard  and  forgotten. 

( b )  The  influence  of  the  value  of  the  land  on  the  location  and 
rent  of  dwellings  may  be  briefly  considered  in  this  connection.  It 
has  been  shown  that  only  two  of  the  South  End  factory  operatives 
have  purchased,  for  residence  purposes,  land  of  which  the  assessed 
valuation  is  more  than  60  cents  per  foot.  Although  the  valuation 
of  land  occupied  by  renters  is  in  many  instances  higher  than  that 
rate,  it  was  seen,  however,  that  those  districts  which  show  a  very 
high  valuation  of  land  are  avoided  even  by  the  renters.  The 
explanation  of  this  is  that  where  land  is  expensive  the  rent  of  the 
land  enters  largely  into  that  of  the  dwelling  erected  upon  it.  The 
standard  of  living  of  the  better  paid  artisans,  such  as  we  have 
been  considering,  demands  better  housing  accommodations  than 
can  be  found  by  him  in  the  more  crowded  districts.  He  therefore 

(i)  530  million  people  were  moved  by  the  steam  railroads  of  the  United  States  in  1900. 

£00  million  people  were  moved  by  the  Elevated  and  surface  cars  in  N.  Y.  City  during  the- 
same  year. 


38 


gives  that  district  over  to  the  poorer  residents,  who,  content  with 
narrower,  less  commodious,  and  less  sanitary  quarters,  make  up 
the  high  rental  of  each  house  by  sharing  it  with  a  large  number 
of  occupants.  The  value  of  the  building  may  be  greatly  mispro- 
portioned  to  that  of  the  land  (in  many  instances  the  value  of  the 
building  is  less  than  one-tenth  that  of  the  land),  but  it  has  crowded 
into  it  a  teeming  population  who  are  paying  together  a  total 
rental  for  the  building  which  is  several  times  that  which  might  be 
paid  for  much  finer  quarters  in  a  pleasanter,  more  healthful,  and 
less  crowded  neighborhood.  The  payment  of  these  abnormal  rents 
for  residence  quarters  in  crowded  districts  is  the  result  of  the 
abnormal  use  of  the  land,  the  value  of  which  is  determined  by  its 
location  for  other  business  purposes.  The  forces  which  cause  the 
increase  of  population  may  be  of  an  industrial  or  mercantile  nature, 
and  are  cumulative,  growing  with  the  increase  of  population  and 
in  turn  being  influenced  by  that  growth.  After  a  time  the  value 
of  the  land  for  business  purposes  rises  so  high  that  the  land  occupied 
even  by  the  densest  population  no  longer  furnishes  a  margin  of 
profit  for  residential  purposes,  so  that  we  find  an  inner  circle  of 
very  small  area  given  over  wholly  to  commercial  enterprises. 

The  value  of  land  for  residential  purposes  tends  to  vary  directly 
with  its  population  per  unit  area,  but  the  value  of  land  which  has 
been  given  over  to  business  purposes  varies  directly  with  the  day 
population  but  in  a  rapidly  increasing  ratio,  while  it  seems  to  vary 
indirectly  with  the  night  or  resident  population  because  the  night 
population  occupies  space  required  for  more  profitable  day  uses. 
Land  of  which  the  valuation  is  extremely  high  will  show  absolutely 
no  resident  population.  Thus  we  find  in  Ward  7,  Precinct  1,  of 
Boston,  land  valued  at  over  $180  per  foot,1  while  the  average 
assessed  valuation  of  occupied  land  (in  1900)  for  Ward  7  as  a 
whole  is  $16.70  per  foot.  This  is  the  highest  valuation  for  any 
ward  in  the  city.  The  average  assessed  valuation  of  occupied  land 
for  the  city  as  a  whole  was  $1.49.  The  plot  of  land  assessed  at  $180 
per  foot  is  in  the  very  heart  of  the  mercantile  section  of  the  city. 
Surrounding  it  for  a  limited  space  there  is  a  mercantile  section 
which  is  utterly  devoid  of  resident  population,  while  a  larger  area 
with  this  section  as  a  center  shows  a  decrease  of  population  per 

(1)  Taken  from  the  books  of  the  Assessors  of  the  City  of  Boston.— Property  at  the  corner 
of  Winter  and  Washington  Streets,  assessed  May  i,  1901. 


39 


unit  area.  However,  in  Ward  6,  Precinct  6,  only  one-eighth  of  a 
mile  distant,  there  is  the  densest  population  found  in  any  precinct 
in  the  city.  Furthermore,  in  the  period  1895-1900  this  precinct 
showed  a  greater  increase  in  population  per  unit  area  than  any  other 
in  the  city.  Other  precincts  on  the  edge  of  the  mercantile  section 
also  show  a  very  dense  population,  and  most  of  them  a  large  increase 
of  population  in  recent  years.  This  district  on  the  very  edge  of 
the  mercantile  area  furnishes  living  quarters  for  the  very  poorest 
class  of  people  living  in  Boston.  The  rents  are  here  so  high  that, 
paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  the  better  paid  artisan  moves  away  to 
make  room  for  those  poorer  than  himself.  Only  through  the  ex¬ 
treme  crowding  of  occupants  can  this  district  be  made  to  pay  fair 
profits  when  used  for  residence  purposes.  So  long  as  land  furnishes 
a  margin  of  utility  for  housing  purposes  it  is  used  in  that  way 
in  spite  of  the  greater  pressure  of  the  commercial  interests  upon  it. 
At  length  the  margin  fails  to  be  realized,  then  the  houses  are 
abandoned  and  a  new  area  is  taken  into  that  of  the  commercial 
center.  The  former  residential  population  crowds  into  the  new 
marginal  territory  and  shares  there  the  increased  rents  of  the  houses 
now  on  the  borders  of  the  enlarged  mercantile  section.  This  process 
is  well  illustrated  by  the  growth  of  the  central  districts  of  Boston 
and  indeed  of  all  other  large  cities. 

The  development  of  factory  districts  is,  however,  different  in 
some  respects  from  that  of  the  commercial  center.  Its  first  stages 
of  development  are  very  similar;  the  concentration  of  the  factories 
results  in,  and  is  a  result  of,  the  growing  population.  But  the  rent 
of  the  land  occupied  enters  so  largely  into  the  operating  expenses 
of  the  factory  that,  where  the  land  occupied  has  a  value  of  more 
than  $2  per  foot,  it  becomes  unprofitable  for  the  factory  to  remain 
there.  Already  in  the  South  End  we  have  found  one  factory  moving 
to  a  cheaper  location  and  another  continuing  at  its  location 
only  through  renting  the  ground  floor  for  mercantile  purposes,  and 
finally  moving  out  of  the  district.  So  we  find  that  the  South  End 
is  losing  its  character  as  a  factory  district  and  that  it  is  being  given 
over  to  residential  and  mercantile  purposes.  As  yet  its  resident 
population  is  not  very  great.  During  the  period  1895-1900  the  in¬ 
crease  of  its  population  was  only  about  6  per  cent.  In  fact  a 
careful  census  of  the  room  vacancies  along  and  near  Washington 
Street  —  the  main  thoroughfare  of  the  district,  on  which  the  new 


elevated  railroad  has  been  built  —  showed  that  there  were  more 
vacancies  in  October,  1901,  than  there  were  six  months  before,  when 
the  road  was  not  in  operation.  This  decrease  of  population  dur- 
the  year  1901 -1902  is  in  part  due  to  the  undesirable  features  of 
the  road.  There  has  been  little  building  of  dwelling-houses  in 
this  district  for  several  years,  and  people  of  a  lower  grade,  constitut¬ 
ing  partly  an  overflow  from  the  more  crowded  immigrant  sections 
of  the  city,  are  beginning  to  take  up  quarters  in  this  district. 
Unless  some  counteracting  force  appears  to  prevent  this  inflow,  the 
South  End  will  undoubtedly  take  on  more  the  characteristics  of  that 
crowded  section  immediately  surrounding  the  central  mercantile 
district.  There  can  be  but  one  remedy  for  such  a  condition  of 
overcrowding  and  that  is  in  a  transfer  of  a  portion  of  the  population 
to  more  suitable  districts. 

C.  For  those  who  remain  within  congested  city  districts  the  chief 
methods  that  may  be  used  in  relieving  their  condition  are  (1)  by 
demolishing  unsanitary  buildings,  (2)  by  regulating  the  construction 
of  new  buildings,  and  (3)  by  the  construction  of  model  dwellings. 
Boston  is  already  beginning  to  apply  these  remedies  to  the  condi¬ 
tions  in  the  crowded  districts,  and  with  very  marked  success.  As 
a  result  of  the  tenement-house  investigation  made  in  1892  by  the 
Massachusetts  Labor  Bureau,  followed  by  the  admirable  work  of  the 
Twentieth  Century  Club  and  by  certain  other  public-spirited  per¬ 
sons,  a  large  number  of  insanitary  buildings  in  various  portions  of 
the  city  were  demolished  by  civil  authority,  and  each  year  since  a 
large  number  has  been  destroyed  or  condemned.  The  laws  regulat¬ 
ing  the  construction  of  new  dwellings  are  so  severe  and  so  well 
enforced  that  it  is  now  impossible  in  certain  parts  of  the  city  to  build 
dwelling-houses  that  will  pay  a  fair  rent.  On  account  of  these  rather 
strict  building  laws  the  erection  of  better  dwellings  in  the  crowded 
districts  (where  land  is  very  valuable)  is  not  only  unprofitable  as  a 
philanthropic  but  as  a  private  business  enterprise  as  well.  The  new 
buildings  are  therefore  put  up  on  the  outskirts  of  the  crowded 
districts,  and  those  in  the  crowded  areas  remain  in  that  condition 
which  is  just  beyond  the  margin  of  the  law.  We  have  seen  that 
those  whose  wages  are  low  are  of  necessity  compelled  to  live  near 
their  work.  For  such,  protection  by  arbitrary  means  is  necessary. 
But  for  those  who  are  not  on  the  very  verge  of  economic  distress 
there  is  a  way  of  escape  which  until  recent  years  has  not  been 


41 


largely  open  to  all.  Time-distance,  rather  than  distance  in  space, 
is  the  obstacle  which  prevents  the  workingman  from  seeking  better 
housing  conditions  at  a  distance  from  his  work.  The  effect  of  rapid 
transit  is  to  enlarge  the  area  in  which  the  better  grade  of  working¬ 
men  can  conveniently  have  their  homes.  The  transportation  facilities 
of  Boston  are  hardly  excelled  by  those  of  any  other  city  in  the  world ; 
there  is  then  small  excuse  for  any  considerable  crowding  in  any 
portion  of  the  city  limits,  and  actually,  as  we  have  observed, 
the  people  are  beginning  to  realize  the  opportunities  that  are  being 
presented  and  are  acting  accordingly.  As  an  outcome  of  economic 
events  “  a  decent  home  environment  for  the  urban  population  ” 
is  being  created  through  the  limitation  of  space  by  means  of  rapid 
transit.  This  powerful  economic  agency  is  the  greatest  reformer 
of  city  crowding  that  has  ever  appeared.  Through  intelligent  use 
of  this  agency,  the  deplorable  tendency  of  mankind  to  crowd  to¬ 
gether  may  be  successfully  opposed  in  our  own  city. 

CONCLUSION. 

From  what  has  been  said,  we  see  why  so  much  attention  has 
been  given  in  this  study  to  the  question  of  transportation  as  it 
affects  the  housing  conditions  of  the  South  End  factory  operatives. 
In  fact  this  has  been  the  thread  which  has  connected  the  various 
phases  of  the  subject  examined.  Transportation  entered  the  problem 
in  the  first  stages  of  this  investigation,  and  has  become  of  greater 
importance  as  we  advanced  until  other  explanations  of  the  locations 
of  the  homes  of  the  employees  have  seemed  but  of  small  importance. 

As  we  have  proceeded  we  have  found  that  more  than  half  of  the 
operatives  in  the  factories  live  beyond  walking  distance  from  their 
work,  and  that  these  were  the  better  paid  and  more  enterprising 
workmen.  Following  them  to  their  homes,  we  have  been  surprised 
to  find  how  much  more  desirable  accommodations  have  been  secured 
by  them  for  the  same  money  than  they  could  have  secured  in  the 
immediate  factory  neighborhood. 

Looking  into  the  homes  of  those  who  reside  near  their  work, 
we  find  the  housing  conditions  much  less  desirable,  and  that  gen¬ 
erally  the  occupants  are  the  poorer  paid  of  the  operatives.  There 
are  three  main  causes  for  their  remaining  where  they  are:  (i)  low 
wages  (but  below  $10  a  week  this  is  hardly  a  sufficient  reason), 


42 


(2)  ignorance  of  the  better  homes  obtainable  elsewhere  for  less 
money,  and  (3)  a  sort  of  “  residential  inertia  ”  which  is  due  to 
formation  of  local  ties,  to  their  becoming  accustomed  to  crowded 
and  sordid  conditions,  and  to  a  sort  of  hopelessness  which  the  peculiar 
atmosphere  and  environment  may  induce  in  any  one  who  does  not  at 
times  experience  the  delightful  freedom  from  oppressive  crowding. 
The  salvation  of  such  poor  rests  upon  an  enlargement  of  their  physical 
environment.  This,  rapid  transit  is  accomplishing.  While  attending 
to  the  needs  of  our  “  city  dwellers,”  we  should  not  forget  those 
who  would  rather  be  “  suburbanites  ”  if  they  could.  The  establish¬ 
ment  of  better  dwellings  in  crowded  districts  is  a  grand  work  if 
it  does  not  increase  or  prolong  such  crowding.  But  such  work 
becomes  worse  than  fruitless  if  it  prevents  the  establishment  of 
homes  in  less  congested  and  more  habitable  districts. 

Along  with  our  Better  Dwelling  Societies  we  should  have  a 
society  for  the  encouragement  of  suburban  residence  for  the  poor 
—  such  a  society  having  a  central  bureau  where  information  may  be 
obtained  as  to  good  and  convenient  localities  for  the  homes  of 
workingmen  outside  of  the  crowded  city  limits.  Philanthropic  per¬ 
sons  might  devote  themselves  to  the  worthy  task  of  offering  valuable 
information  to  those  workingmen  who  are  ignorant  of  better 
possibilities  for  home  life  in  a  healthier  and  more  ennobling  environ¬ 
ment  ;  thus  liberating  those  whose  “  residential  inertia  ”  holds  them 
imprisoned  in  habitations,  which  would  be  unendurable  did  the 
victims  of  such  congested  conditions  but  realize  what  they  suffer. 


43 


